Mary Sherman founded TransCultural Exchange in 1988. At the invitation of friends from Vienna, she gathered fellow artists in Chicago who were joined by Austrian artists to produce an exchange exhibition, film series and reading program entitled Reverse Angle. The exhibition, film screenings and reading program then traveled to Vienna. Afterward, a number of similar projects followed, with Sherman continuing to work with fellow artists from other countries and across disciplines to mount exhibitions under the guise of TransCultural Exchange. In 2000 TransCultural Exchange also participated in David Medella’s 2000 London Biennale. For that project, the members of TransCultural Exchange made artworks in the form of coasters that were exhibited and then distributed, free of charge, under unsuspecting patron’s drinks at London’s Cynthia’s Cyberbar and New York’s Telephone Bar. Next was TransCultural Exchange’s first truly, global art project, The Coaster Project, Destination: The World. Using the then fledgling Internet, TransCultural Exchange solicited artists around the world to participate in the event. The result: Between March 9 and May 19, 2002, 99+ artists transcended geographical, political and cultural boundaries to stage 99+ exhibitions throughout the world. Afterwards, all 10,000+ artworks were given away in the guise of “coasters” at bars, cafes and restaurants. In 2002 Sherman then incorporated TransCultural Exchange as a nonprofit whose mission is to foster a greater understanding of world cultures through large-scale global art projects, artist exchanges and educational programming – most notably TransCultural Exchange’s International Conferences on Opportunities in the Arts. These Conferences are now internationally known as the only forum of its kind for networking, showcasing, supporting and promoting artists and their work.